Supreme Court Warns Prosecutors
On Racial Bias in Jury Selection

In a warning to prosecutors against letting racial bias taint jury selection, the Supreme Court ruled for two black murder defendants who argued blacks were unfairly kept off their juries.

The court reversed the death sentence of Thomas Joe Miller-El, convicted by a Dallas jury for the 1985 murder of an employee during a hotel robbery. Writing for a six-member majority, Justice David Souter said a series of prosecutorial actions had no rational explanation other than racial bias. Ultimately, prosecutors used peremptory...